Summary
Thriller that presents a script with a certain ingenuity and some weaknesses that transforms the story into a gruesome soap opera that, however, fails to generate interest in its protagonist and most of her characters.
Review
An old man named Albert (Niels Arestrup) hires Adrien, a ghostwriter (undaunted Nicolas Duvauchelle) to write a novel based on his memoirs. Shortly after beginning the story for him, he communicates terrible revelations.
The Black Butterflies is a French miniseries with some successes overshadowed by its flaws. It is a story that plays with point of view and credibility, initially focused on the main writer. When playing with the point of view, the facts (and their appearance) perceived by Adrien and by the viewer are questioned and modified. The limits between fiction and reality are also put into play for the reader when there are memories involved, because how much truth is there in a novel that could be autobiographical or autofiction? All interesting aspects and already treated in many movies and series.
On the one hand, there is Albert's account of his youth and his relationship with his partner Solange in the 1970s, but perceived through Adrien's gaze: a past in vivid tones close to the stereotype and to the video clip In various ways, the script knows how not to repeat itself with these constant flashbacks and opportunely change (or enrich) the axes of the story, even giving rise to a very interesting turn related, precisely, to the gaze. But at the same time, the story is transformed into a true and black soap opera as that past establishes ties with the present, in a story that boasts quite gruesome scenes. At times the dispersion resents the story until the ends more or less unite again.
But the big problem with the series is that dispersion and, more than anything, the painting of most of its characters except one (I won't say which one): it is very difficult to empathize with them, especially with the protagonist (a rather dark and unpleasant character ) and understand some of their decisions and actions, guided more by the needs of the script, even putting the credibility of the whole story at stake.
Thriller that presents a script with a certain ingenuity and some weaknesses that transforms the story into a gruesome soap opera that, however, fails to generate interest in its protagonist and most of her characters.
Review
An old man named Albert (Niels Arestrup) hires Adrien, a ghostwriter (undaunted Nicolas Duvauchelle) to write a novel based on his memoirs. Shortly after beginning the story for him, he communicates terrible revelations.
The Black Butterflies is a French miniseries with some successes overshadowed by its flaws. It is a story that plays with point of view and credibility, initially focused on the main writer. When playing with the point of view, the facts (and their appearance) perceived by Adrien and by the viewer are questioned and modified. The limits between fiction and reality are also put into play for the reader when there are memories involved, because how much truth is there in a novel that could be autobiographical or autofiction? All interesting aspects and already treated in many movies and series.
On the one hand, there is Albert's account of his youth and his relationship with his partner Solange in the 1970s, but perceived through Adrien's gaze: a past in vivid tones close to the stereotype and to the video clip In various ways, the script knows how not to repeat itself with these constant flashbacks and opportunely change (or enrich) the axes of the story, even giving rise to a very interesting turn related, precisely, to the gaze. But at the same time, the story is transformed into a true and black soap opera as that past establishes ties with the present, in a story that boasts quite gruesome scenes. At times the dispersion resents the story until the ends more or less unite again.
But the big problem with the series is that dispersion and, more than anything, the painting of most of its characters except one (I won't say which one): it is very difficult to empathize with them, especially with the protagonist (a rather dark and unpleasant character ) and understand some of their decisions and actions, guided more by the needs of the script, even putting the credibility of the whole story at stake.